Paying to get out of prison

My father was sentenced to serve three years in prison for a non‑violent offence. The magistrate sentenced him to pay a fine, with a default clause that, if he failed to pay, he would serve three years in prison. He was unable to pay and began serving the default imprisonment. He has already served one year. Recently, I visited him, and he told me that he overheard fellow inmates saying that it is possible to convert his custodial sentence into a fine and obtain release. Is this true? Can he pay money to replace the remaining prison term? He has asked me to follow up with a lawyer and give him a reply soon.

HJ, Dar es Salaam

We regret your father’s imprisonment. The Penal Code, Cap. 16 [R.E. 2023] and the Criminal Procedure Act, Cap. 20 [R.E. 2023] provide Courts with discretion at the time of sentencing to impose either a fine, imprisonment, or both, depending on the seriousness of the offence. Once you are serving a custodial sentence, the law does not permit you to ‘buy’ your freedom by paying money unless your imprisonment was due to a default in paying a fine imposed during the sentencing. This kind of imprisonment applies where a person was convicted of an offence with the option to pay a fine or serve imprisonment. In that case, you may pay the fine even after commencing the sentence, and the imprisonment would then be terminated. This is precisely what section 29(e) of the Penal Act provides: the imprisonment imposed in default of payment of a fine shall cease when the fine is either paid or levied by process of law.

Remember, if the sentence was purely custodial (imprisonment only, no acceptable fine option), then section 29 does not apply. A prisoner may not later request that the sentence be converted to a fine. What is possible, however, are mechanisms such as parole, remission, or presidential pardon. The Prisons Act [Cap. 58 R.E. 2023] allows remission of sentences for good behaviour, and parole may be granted under certain conditions.

Additionally, the President of Tanzania has constitutional powers to pardon or commute sentences. These are not automatic rights but privileges that require formal applications through prison authorities or the parole board. Therefore, if what you said about your father is true, the correct path is to seek conversion into a fine as per the law. Consult a lawyer for guidance.